Welcome. :)

Welcome to my blog. Here I share my successes and failures along my journey to becoming an anthropologist. My most prominent interest anthropologically are the new approaches to handing food security/healthy eating in the US, particularly in urban "food deserts". I enjoy the Anthropology of Tourism as well; combining food and tourism has scholarly promise. My other interests which have converted into anthropological hobbies of sorts include converts to Islam, diaspora of Muslims, and MENA in general. I also have some interest in historical archaeology.

I welcome comments, discussion and even respectful debating. I will however keep discussions to a respectable level. I reserve the right to ban anyone from this forum.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

I am back!!

To the few readers I have, I want to say......I am back! I want to say that I graduated May 2011. It was a glorious time. My father and my stepmother came down from Chicago to spend the time with me. It was an amazing feeling to walk across that stage and to know that I made it to the next step.

What's next you ask? I contemplated jettisoning graduate school and just finding a career I could be relatively at peace with but working where I work will not give me what I need. I am not working in my field at all; I am unfulfilled. I have had some time to reevaluate what I want and where I want to be in my life. I have made a solid decision on what I want to do. I want to (even at my age), move on into a graduate program in anthropology.


With my short background in tourism, one would think that I would want to follow that path for graduate work. However, I have decided on a different trajectory for the future. I have a strong background in food product development and an interest in food systems. One trend or change I have seen in not only Orlando, but across the country is urban farming/gardens.

I am interested in studying urban farming from a bio-cultural perspective. In general, I would like to study the extent to which they are avenues to increase sustainability and independence for residents of low income communities. The biological aspect I am interested in would be to take bio-markers from the residents to study if the food they are eating is improving health compared to those who are not utilizing food from the garden. In addition, I have have questions about the farms' initiatives affect on community identity. These are just general ideas; I am narrowing them down over time.

So...I will save more for another time. It is good to be back. :)

anthrogeek10

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